


December 19: and all these picture frames

by dizzy



Series: farewell and gtfo 2016 daily fic advent [19]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, trip and stumble universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-09 23:06:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8916625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: prompt: Please please please anything set in the Trip&Stumble Universe, preferably if it's set in the future (after the stories we've already read) so we can see a little of what they became. I'll love you forever





	

**Author's Note:**

> I fully reserve the right to joss myself at any point.

They spend their first Christmas as an engaged couple apart; Chris in Clovis with his parents and Darren on a family trip to Hawaii. 

They’ve had their time together; a friend gathering with all their Michigan classmates in Chicago, where a lot of them migrated, plus dinner with both families. 

It feels like it should be harder but Chris is busy working and Darren’s busy having fun and the endless stream of text messages and phone calls make them feel like they’re barely apart. 

They open presents over a Skype call. “This feels like what we did back when we’d just started dating,” Chris says, thinking of the worn and comfortable ‘Michigan boyfriend’ t-shirt he still sleeps in sometimes. 

“Except this time it’ll totally end in phone sex,” Darren says, grinning. 

“Please.” Chris rolls his eyes. “You’re sharing a hotel room with your brother. I want to actually be able to look Chuck in the eye at the wedding.” 

“Thank you, Chris.” Chuck shouts from just out of frame. 

*

They spend their first Christmas eve as a married couple at Darren’s house, and get the in car just after nightfall to make the drive to Clovis to be there before midnight, assuaging Hannah’s worries that Santa won’t come if Chris and Hannah aren’t both there. 

Looking back years on, Chris won’t remember what they got for Christmas or what kind of food they had at dinner that year. What he’ll remember is riding with the windows cracked because the heat in the car is just a little too much. 

He’ll remember singing Christmas carols with Darren at the top of their lungs, the way the other drivers on the road honked and joined in at stop lights, the way they found a 24/7 donut place along the ride and fought over the last apple cider donut. 

He’ll remember sitting on the lone picnic table outside the donut shop and kissing icing off Darren’s lips, the hot cocoa they got to go. 

He’ll remember holding hands over the seat console between them and feeling so warm and hopeful and in love and excited just to be living in that moment. 

He remembers it so fondly that it becomes tradition - Christmas carols and apple cider donuts and that long, lovely stretch of together in the middle of a hectic time of joy. 

*

They’ve been married seven years the first time they spend all of Christmas all in one place. 

The little house in Clovis has never seemed so quiet or so empty. It’s been almost a year, but this brings the pain up fresh all over again, every holiday marked off the calendar peeling away a new layer to the loss.

Chris’s dad walks the halls quietly. He excuses himself early for bed. He hugs his children long and hard, and neither of them ask him to stay up later like they might normally. 

Darren spends most of Christmas eve making Hannah laugh, and Chris smile when he can. They all make cookies together and decorate them with icing they dye themselves. It’s a horrible mess and their mother would have hated it, but bragged over how well they turned out all the same. 

Hannah asks Darren to play Christmas songs on his guitar and he holds court for an hour, doing every song she wants and some of them twice. He keeps his voice low to not wake up Chris’s father, but makes Chris join in for Baby, It’s Cold Outside. 

In the morning, there are presents all under the tree just like Chris’s mother would have done. Hannah is delighted, a little continuity to her world preserved. Chris stands back and tries not to cry. 

“You’re amazing,” Chris says, turning around wrapping his arms around Darren’s neck. 

Darren rubs a hand in circles over Chris’s back. “That’s why you married me.” 

*

Their tenth Christmas as husbands is the first they spend together, waking up in their own home, in their own bed.

The house sounds joyous already. Chris can smell breakfast - Cerina, no doubt. He can hear Chuck’s children screaming their joy, and the sound of Hannah laughing with them. 

He could almost go to back to sleep, so perfectly content to be surrounded by all the people that he loves. 

Except - he really has to piss. 

And Darren’s laying on him, killing his bladder. 

Chris shoves until Darren rolls off with a grunt. “Wha.” 

“It’s Christmas, you lazy ass.” Chris leans over and kisses a prickling, stubbled cheek. “And I think we’re the last ones up.” 

Darren yawns massively, and then reaches down to scratch his junk. “Need a shower.” 

“Damn right you do.” Chris gets up and goes into the bathroom, leaving the door open while he pisses. Darren stumbles in thirty seconds later and goes straight for the shower. “I’m not joining you.” 

“No one asked you to,” Darren says, completely naked and shameless. He walks up behind Chris and kisses his neck. “Merry Christmas.” 

Chris leans back against him, smiling. “Merry Christmas.”


End file.
